Here’s what happened on Wednesday:

  1. National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization’s working group chief Dr NK Arora warned that parents and other family members of school students should get vaccinated against Covid-19, reported the Hindustan Times. He said that it was time for schools to reopen in a phased manner, adding that teachers, non-teaching staff and drivers of vehicles transporting students should also be inoculated.
  2. India recorded 37,593 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the infection tally in the country to 3,25,12,366 since the pandemic broke out in January last year. With 648 deaths, the toll climbed to 4,35,758.
  3. Haryana has planned to open all government and private schools from September 1 for Classes 4 and 5, reported The Indian Express. State Education Minister Kanwar Pal said that classes would be organised for the students in strict adherence to the coronavirus-related standard operating procedures.
  4. Kerala reported 31,445 new cases of the coronavirus and 215 deaths due to the infection in the last 24 hours. The positivity rate stood at 19.03%.
  5. The Gujarat government announced that schools for Classes 6 to 8 will reopen from September 2 with 50% capacity, PTI reported.
  6. The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to state whether the 84-day gap between two Covishield doses was on account of efficacy or availability of the vaccines.
  7. On her first day in office, New York Governor Kathy Hochul added nearly 12,000 more deaths to the American state’s toll, reported AP.
  8. A United States intelligence group has submitted a report to the country’s President Joe Biden suggesting that origin of the Covid-19 virus remained “inconclusive”, the Washington Post reported.
  9. Australia’s worst-affected state New South Wales reported a record 919 new cases in the last 24 hours despite a two-month lockdown, Reuters reported.
  10. Covid-19 has infected more than 21.35 crore people and led to over 44.57 lakh deaths in the world since the beginning of the pandemic in December 2019, according to Johns Hopkins University.